CKI offered A$11 per share in cash, or 33 per cent more than yesterday’s closing price, APA said in a statement today. The deal would bolster CKI’s interests in Australia, where it already owns stakes in energy assets and last year bought power provider Duet Group for more than A$7 billion.

APA’s board has granted the consortium led by CKI due diligence, though has made no recommendation in response to the unsolicited proposal, it said.

The offer comes just a month after billionaire Li Ka-shing formally stepped down as head of the business empire, handing the reins to his eldest son Victor.

APA’s gas transmission pipelines span every state and territory on mainland Australia, delivering approximately half of the nation’s gas usage, according to its website. The company’s 15,000 kilometers of gas pipelines connect 1.3 million homes and businesses.

The CKI-led consortium, which includes CK Asset Holdings Ltd and Power Assets Holdings Ltd, has informed APA that it has had discussions with, and provided information to, both Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board and the country’s competition watchdog. It has offered to sell APA’s interests in the Goldfields Gas Pipeline, Parmelia Gas Pipeline, Mondarra Gas Storage Facility.